If Benjamin Netanyahu really cared about Israel he'd resign as Prime Minister

 Whatever you may or may not think of Israel, wherever your sympathies lie in the Palestine/ Israel situation, anyone who looks at the record of their Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can only conclude that the man has been a disaster all round, he is an obstacle to any settlement and peace and that nothing good is likely to happen whilst he is in charge of Israel. In two months time, it will be two years since the 7th October 2023 attack. Hamas has not been destroyed, innocent Israeli citizens are still held in tunnels, people on both sides are still dying. When the attack first happened, an Israeli friend told me with absolute certainty "within six months, Hamas will cease to exist and every hostage will be freed". He is as hard line a Zionist as you are likely to meet. I bumped into him yesterday and we had a long chat. He reminded me of all of the successes of Mossad, etc over the last two years. They decapitated the leadership of Hezbollah with the exploding pagers. They have effectively emasculated Iran and their nuclear programme. But the difficult truth is that Hamas still exist. The hostages are still in tunnels and even my friend admitted that Hamas had proven a harder nut to crack than he ever anticipated.

I asked him what he thought of Netanyahu as Prime Minister. He finds it very hard to be critical, I suspect he feels that it is an act of disloyalty to criticise Israel when they are at war, but he did say "We need a new Prime Minister, however you look at his record, history will not judge him well". I was actually gobsmacked at this response. He explained that he was worried that Netanyahu had lost the trust of Donald Trump and that is something that Israel simply can't afford to happen. I know little of Israeli politics, I have no idea who would be a good or a bad replacement should he go, and it's not really my job to advise Israelis. My friend mentioned a couple of people. I thought I'd ask Google, rather oddly, all I got was links to rather old articles. I asked @Grok on Twitter and the answer I got seemed to follow the logic and views of my friend yesterday

As of August 2025, with Netanyahu's coalition fracturing and early elections likely, Naftali Bennett emerges as a strong successor candidate. Polls show his leadership could secure an opposition majority. Bennett opposes Palestinian statehood, favors annexing West Bank areas, and supports aggressive policies against Hamas.

Reading this brought to me, the old adage "Careful what you wish for", in respect to those who support Palestinian causes and wish to see Netanyahu booted out. It rather sounds as if Bennett is more, rather than less hard line. Having said that, he would not have the baggage that surrounds Netanyahu. Of course a major realignment in Israeli politics is the only way that there will be a major change in the direction of Israeli/Palestinian relations. That will only happen if an election delivers a significant change in the balance of the Israeli Parliament. I suspect that will only happen if the Israeli electorate actually believe that any peace process will not fundamentally put the existence of Israel at risk, which has always been the Ace up the sleeve of Netanyahu. 

There is a view that Netanyahu is hanging on to power to avoid criminal charges. Personally I doubt that he will ever face a court, but he clearly doesn't fancy taking the chance. If, however, the people and small parties that support him, decide that someone like Bennett would have better electoral prospects and could rebuild the trust between Israel and Trump, Netanyahu may have no choice in the matter. As far as I can see though, his tenure as Prime Minister is no longer about what is best for Israel. That is never a good situation for anyone. 

Talking to other friends who are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause recently, some of whom are also Israeli's, they passionately believe that Netanyahu will ultimately end up before the court at the Hague charged with war crimes. This can only happen when he is no longer Prime Minister and loses the immunity from prosecution that comes with it. When I suggested that they may get an even more hardline PM, they said they would happily accept that if it saw Netanyahu in court. Personally, I doubt Israel would ever give up an ex PM to the Hague, whether he was guilty or not. Even his biggest enemies in Israel understand the precedent that would set.

The most depressing for me when writing about the Middle East is that the more I read about the situation, the less I see a way that the area will ever see any degree of peace. For all of my life, the best that can be hoped for is that fragile ceasefires give people in the area a modicum of normality. I am an optimist and dearly hope that a new generation of leaders emerge on both sides, that can actually deliver a just and lasting peace. I suspect that I'll be a very old man if I ever see that. One thing I am absolutely certain of, is that when we read the history of the Middle East in a hundred years, it will not judge the tenure of Benjamin Netanyahu kindly, whatever happens. The man has been a complete disaster for Israel, the Palestinian people and the world. I suspect that he is the main reason that some people, in my opinion rather misguidedly, see Hamas as a credible force for peace. As far as I am concerned, Hamas is a major reason why Israeli's vote for Netanyahu and he knows it. As for Hamas, their grip on Gaza has git stronger, not weaker since Netanyahu took power. I can only conclude that If Benjamin Netanyahu really cared about Israel he'd resign as Prime Minister.

Palestine - Time for local religious leaders to show some leadership

I have found the pictures coming out of Gaza ever more disturbing. I don't believe that any decent person cannot be moved by pictures of injured and dead children and babies. Any parent must surely feel some pang of sympathy for the parents of those who we see the pictures of. It seems that many are seeking to play a blame game, but the truth is that for such terrible scenes to occur, we are all in some ways damaged and in some ways to blame for it. Those who don't care for those hurt, maybe the damage is just too great. The vast majority of those involved in this struggle are Jews, Muslims or Christians. All of these religions believe in the same God and most of the customs, laws and practices are similar and have common roots. All largely recognise the same list of prophets and the teachings. None of these great Religions recognises slaughter of the innocent people as acceptable ways to wage war. We watch the images and feel impotent. We feel as if it is all a long way away from us.

When we feel like this, we are failing ourselves. We are all part of the human family and when we stand by and watch any member of our family suffer, we are primarily failing ourselves. The Leadership of both Israel and the Palestinian people are failing their people, but they are also failing the whole human family by letting the situation continue. When they say "We've tried but it is pointless", they are in effect saying "I am not up to the job of leading my people". They portray themselves as tough leaders, but in fact they are the weakest of all types of leaders, because they lack the moral courage to reach out and lead their people though difficult decisions which some of their citizens will object to. One day, it may be today, it may be tomorrow or it may be in a thousand years time, we will finally get decent leaders of both the Palestinian people and the Isreali people. These leaders will broker a compromise, which will allow these peoples to live in peace, side by side. Both sides will have to agree to some things which their hard line supporters will call a betrayal. Once these compromises have been accepted, only then will both peoples be able to move forward.

It's not for a blogger in Mill Hill to even start to tell people at war what compromises they should make and what sins they should forgive, but short of one side annihalating the other (something which sadly some hardliners on both sides seem to think is a solution) any sane person will accept that there will have to be compromise.

In the London Borough of Barnet, we have very good community relationships. I do however believe that on the issue of Palestine and Gaza we need to do more. We need a proper inter faith engagement and I would like to see some joint prayer services where people from all religious communities come together to pray for peace. I'd even urge local athiests to participate, as they are part of our human family. Whether or not you believe in the power of prayer, it is important to recognise the power of communities coming together in respect for each others community and traditions. There really should be far more that unites people of good will than divides us. The more cynical will say "What can a few people getting together in Barnet possibly do to change the situation in Gaza?". Well I happen to believe that every journey starts with one small step. Recognising that we are all brothers and sisters is the first step of that journey. So I call on our local Imams, Rabbi's and Priests to get together and see if here in Barnet we can so a seed that will be that first step on the road to change.

I don't believe that anyone who has read scriptures, be they Jewish, Christian or Muslim can believe that what we are seeing in Gaza is Gods will. I once discussed the Jewish philosophy of an Eye for an Eye with a local rabbi. He explained that this was not a call for revenge. It was a call for a moderation of revenge. At the time, there were huge feuds and clans were wiping each other out with ever more bloodthirsty revenges. The teaching was one that any revenge must be equitable. If someone kills our brother or sister, we should not seek to wipe their whole family out as revenge. I spoke to a local Imam who explained to me that historically Muslims were the one people who did not persecute the Jewish people and how until recently the communities in the Middle East lived in peace and harmony. Muslims are required to treat people of "The Book" with respect. 

The time has come for the local leaders of all our respective religions to come together and remind their congregations of the teachings of peace which are central to their beliefs. If people of faith and goodwill on  both sides reminded themselves of the fundamental teachings they follow, I cannot believe that they would support the seemingly endless situation where both sides want to indiscriminately kill each other.

The arguments that "We are only doing this because the other side are doing that" are not the arguments that people of goodwill should ever accept. We mistakenly see militaristic ruthless leaders as "Strong men". They are nothing of the sort. People like Gandhi and Martin Luther King are real examples of strong leaders. Both knew where their path was likely to end, but both addvocated peaceful resolution of problems. These are the people we should be looking to as an example. Lets end the blame game, stop the fnger pointing and start working together to make the lives of the ordinary people on the ground better.

So my plea to our local religious leaders is to come together and start to unite our communities. This blog will support you as best we can in any efforts you can make to spread peace and reconciliation. It isn't much but it is all I can do.

Jonathan Hoffman pickets Miriam Margolyes at the Arts Depot

Leading Zionist campaigner Jonathan Hoffman staged a protest at the Arts Depot against actress Miriam Margoyles, for signing a letter criticising the Globe Theatre for inviting an Israeli Theatre company  Habima (The National Theatre of Israel) to give two performances of The Merchant of Venice as one of its 37 Shakespeare plays in 37 languages season. 


Former Mill Hill Tory council Candidate, Richard Millet reports on the incident in his blog. He also shows a short video clip of a local resident giving Mr Hoffman short shrift for his campaign -  http://richardmillett.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/protests-outside-arts-depot-against-anti-israel-actor-miriam-margolyes/ - clearly offended by this attack on a "national treasure". Some of the comments are (to me at least) rather interesting. One commenter is deeply offended that Ms Margolyes boasted of "helping a soldier to Mastibate (sic)". What an easily offended bunch of people read Richards blog.

What I'm going to say next will probably sound like heresy to most of my friends on the liberal left in Barnet. I actually feel a bit sorry for Mr Hoffman. The last time he was in action protesting, I met him and had a chat. He was leading a pro Brian Coleman protest when Brian was done for breaching the standards code. On that occasion he had two other protestors with him. His protest failed and Coleman lost.

On this occasion it seems he only had Richard along for company. It appears that the sell out crowd largley ignored him and it seems they all went in to see the show. As someone who has been to a few protests, there is nothing more disheartening than when no one else turns up and everyone by and large ignores you. I was warned after I spoke to Mr Hoffman at the Coleman hearing, that he was a dangerous and shady individual. I have to say that a bloke standing outside a theatre handing out leaflets which are largely ignored, is in my book no threat to anyone. I always feel quite relieved when we see oddball protests, which we don't really understand. To me it is all part of the fun of living in a democracy. Earlier this week I blogged about how a Russian punk band called Pussy Riot had been jailed for writing an Anti Putin song. The more people  that we have on the streets like Mr Hoffman, the less likely we are to see that happen here.

We need people like Mr Hoffman (whether we agree with them or not) to make peaceful protests. It is part of a democracy. We should also not be surprised when people meet such protest with complete apathy, when people think the whole thing is a complete waste of time.

You may wonder what my views are on Miriam Margoyles, her criticisms of Israel and Mr Hoffmans response. As Ms Margolyes is, like Mr Hoffman, Jewish, my view is that I'll leave them to have their argument well alone. They both clearly feel quite passionate about it and totally disagree with each other. The last thing they need is people like myself who are ill informed about the issues to stick their oar in. I'm sure if you have an interest in Israel or Palestinian issues, you will already have made your mind up and this little incident will only reinforce whatever views you already had. Anyway, I'm sure that having offended everyone with my comments here, I'm off to help at the FCHS annual Garden Fete. Have a pleasant Sunday.

More Canvassing Stories - David Cameron on Israel and overdeveloped allotments

Unlike many people I really enjoy canvassing. I genuinely enjoy talking to people. Generally we tend to go out in teams, but if I'm honest, I prefer going out on my own. If you are part of a team and you get talking to someone who is really interesting, you feel the need to cut short the conversation and dash off to "catch up". I don't really like having that pressure. Some of the most interesting conversations are with people who won't vote Lib Dem, for various reasons. The conversations haven't been about politics, but about life in Mill Hill. I had a great chat gentleman in Sunnyfields who was a committed Conservative. He wanted to know what I thought of the "spin" aspect of politics. He told me that he thought John Major would be the last "real" Prime minister.He felt that the Leadership debates on TV were a terrible thing because it focussed on the person not the policies. As we parted he said "Do you really think voting in the Council elections makes a difference?". I replied "I'm not getting paid to do this, so I guess I must". I hope that if I'm elected, he won't ask me that question in four years.

Another Tory voter who I had an interesting chat with had problems with the allotments at the bottom of her garden. Strangely enough, it turned out that I'd been advising a friend (who is non political) who had been helping her to deal with the problem with Barnet Council. He'd sent me an email confirming that Barnet Council would be acting on the matter just before I'd left to go door knocking. She was pleased to hear this. Asked her why she hadn't contacted her local Conservative Councillor who is involved with the allotment society, as to me this would seem a natural thing to do. She replied "Oh, I was told he was too busy with the election" ?????

Another interesting chap was a Jewish guy who was a Lib Dem supporter. "Did you see what David Cameron said in the Financial Times about the West Bank?" He asked. I hadn't. He said "Wait here". After five minutes, he returned and said "Put this on your blog". He'd printed off an article and highlighted the text. As you have to subscribe to the FT (which you can do for free), this link may not work (you will be prompted to subscribe if you don't) :-

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c562cb5a-3cfd-11df-bbcf-00144feabdc0.html

If you don't want to subscribe, here is what he said :-

The would-be prime minister also gives an indication that he will be prepared to join Mr Obama in taking a tough line with Israel on the issue of settlements. “Unlike a lot of politicians from Britain who visit Israel, when I went I did stand in occupied East Jerusalem and actually referred to it as “occupied East Jerusalem,” he says. “The Foreign Office bod who was with me said most ministers don’t dare say [that].” He describes the lack of progress in the peace process as “depressing”.

We also had a chat about my blog. The chap in question is an avid reader of all of the Barnet blogs. "Do you chat to Don't Call Me Dave" was a topic of much interest. I told him we chat quite regularly. He asked if we coordinated blogs. As we sit at different ends of the political spectrum, but have the same opinion of many of the problems of Barnet, he thought we should. "Not really". I like David, I think he writes a great blog, but I think we are both far too independent in our thinking and perhaps a bit too competitive to do that.

The most difficult moment for me was when I knocked on the door of an elderly lady. There was no answer and I was just about to leave, when the door slowly started to open. She had clearly dragged herself with some difficulty from her chair. As I saw her, I felt I'd seen a ghost. She looked just like my mother, shortly before she passed away. She'd clearly had a stroke and had difficulty with movement and speech. Before my mum died, I used to go and have a cup of tea with her every day. This poor lady took the leaflet and smiled and gave me a thumbs up. My mum died in August 2008, but despite her problems, she voted in every election. She was gutted when Boris Johnson won they Mayoralty. Like my mum, this lady was living independently.  As I left, I felt bad with myself. I know first hand what problems she's facing. I felt helpless to do anything to help and useless for this. Then I thought back to my mums situation. I first started to get actively involved in local Politics in Spring 2007 when the Tories privatised the meals on wheels service. My mum was left high and dry with no lunch for several days. The quality of the food was awful at first. The meals were often cold when they were delivered. I suspect that many poor old dears were left hungry for weeks as the system was sorted out. I kicked up such a fuss that my mum was given priority and became the first meal delivered on her round. It became clear to me that such disruption caused stress and would probably have killed people. That was the start of a long journey that lead to me standing for the Lib Dems in Mill Hill.

As I left this ladies doorstep, I realised I was doing as much as I could to stop people such as her, being treated so awfully by Barnet Council. The best way to help and protect her was to have a council which really cared for the people it looked after. That is why I knocked on her door. That is why I will work tirelessly whatever happens to fight policies which hurt people such as her.

I miss my mum. She was a feisty old soul and if she was still around she'd have been telling me to get out and work harder. Thats why I enjoy canvassing. It reminds me of why I am doing all of this.

Finchley Catholic High School and the ambassador to Israel

There is a  really good story in this weeks Finchley Times. The new ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould visited Finchley Catholic High School and addressed pupils earlier this month. Pupils from St Michael’s Catholic Grammar School, Hasmonean High School and the Jewish Free School were invited to attend. Mr Gould is the first Jewish ambassador to Israel and Mr Gould spoke about how honoured he was to be appointed.

There is often criticism of faith schools, claiming that they are too insular and inward looking. As an ex pupil of Finchley Catholic, I am proud that the school is clearly taking a lead in promoting links with other communities. Inviting pupils from the other schools clearly shows that in Barnet, faith schools are promoting a better inter faith relations in the community. In 2007, pupils from Finchley Catholic High School took a play about the holocaust and performed it at the Auschtwitz. It can only be a good thing for schools to get together to stage these sort of events. The best way to counter Racism, anti-semitism and intolerance is to address these issues with young people at an early age. Schools working together as shown here is a great way of getting people from different traditions together.

I can only commend all of the schools involved for taking part and praise Mr Gould for taking the time to speak to the pupils.

Are Israel and Saudi Arabia conspiring to start world war III?

Over the weekend I read possibly the most scary story I've seen for years.  If you believe the Daily Express, the Saudi Arabian government and the Israeli government are conspiring to launch an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. The internet is full of stories of conspiracies, usually put about by raving anti semites. Generally they are best given a wide birth, but as this story appears on the website of a respectable British newspaper which is pro Israeli, it deserves greater scrutiny and discussion.

Whilst I can see that both Israel and Saudi Arabia would both be keen to stop the Iranian plan to develop nuclear weapons in it's tracks (what sane person wouldn't), is it possible or even conceivable that they would work together on such an attack? However deep the Shiite/Sunni division may be, there is a deep antipathy towards Israel in the Arab world. The Saudi regime is not a democratically elected regime, it has a deep distrust of it's own people and a network of secret religious police who maintain the regime. Would this rather repugnant regime survive the outcry following such an attack?  I personally doubt it. In military and political terms, such an attack makes perfect sense for Israel. The Israeli's simply cannot let Iran under it's present rulers develop a nuclear bomb. If the Saudi's came in on the attack, it may castrate a deadly threat in the short term, but I suspect that  it will finish off the Saudi regime. What then? However bad I think the Saudi regime may be, we may well end up with an even worse regime, leading an Islamic Jihad and controlling the worlds oil supply. The west will have no choice but to go to war again, this time against the greater Arab nation. In short this could be the start of world war three. I'd say that the best way forward for the Arab people would be for the west to support progressive and democratic forces in these countries. The situation in Iran is a reaction to imperialist interference by both Great Britain and America of decades if not centuries. Do we want to have a similar problem in Saudi Arabia?

So what would I suggest. If I was involved in the security of Israel, I'd give the Saudi regime the widest berth possible. I suspect that sooner or later, we'll wake up to find that the Israeli air force has done the west's dirty work. I suspect that the best reaction possible for the world would be for the Saudi's to explode in mock outrage and then let us all forget about it. I'd suggest that the sooner this plant is bombed, the better, as there will be less nuclear fallout.

As far as I'm concerned the regime in Iran is illegitamate, corrupt and despicable. They cannot possibly be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. I just hope that whoever takes out the plants developing the weapons makes sure that they do it in such a way as to not start World War III.

Oh and for anyone who claims that the program is purely for civil power. If this was true, then the plants would have been opened up to universal inspection, without conditions. A party of Swedish (or suchlike) diplomats would have been despatched and they would have reported to the world that the program was purely civil.

I'd like a world free of nuclear weapons, if we can't have that, then I'd at the very least like to see regimes such as Iran denied the right to use them. I heard someone saying "Israel's had them for years, Iran needs them to defend themselves". This is the biggest lie of all. Whatever you may or may not think of Israel, there has never been any suggestion that they have a) threatened to use their weapons b) Sought to destroy any of their neighbours with nuclear weapons.

Whatever you think of Israel, Iran or any of the many issues which make this a very complex issue, the bottom line is that if the third world war is likely to start anywhere, any time soon, it's here. That is why all people of good intention should do everything in their power to diffuse this situation. We must all work to stop the proliferation of nuclear technology and we should all work to try and get the leaders of Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia and all of the other powers in the region to act in the interests of the people who live there. I can't see any easy answers to these problems, but I passionately believe that Nuclear weapons are not in anyones interest.

Defiance: Israel, Hamas, Rockets & RAF area bombing

I spent a nice quiet evening in with the family watching DVD's last night. We've had a busy week and to be quite honest, an evening in was pleasant. As I had to pick eldest daughter up from Luton airport at midnight, returning from Swim Camp, it was also a good reason not to drink. One of the films chosen was Defiance. This stars Daniel Craig and tells the story of the Bielski brothers, who set up a camp for Jews fleeing Nazi extermination in Belarus, in the USSR during the Nazi occupation. It is a very good film. Not being familiar with the story, I don't really know how accurate it was, but I think that anything which reminds us of sheer evilness of the Nazi regime is clearly something to be applauded. Tuvia Bielski is clearly someone who's name should be known more widely. The generally accepted image of the Jewish people under Nazi occupation was one of passive compliance. This was clearly not the case with Bielski or his band. They are an example to the whole world of why it is vital to fight tyranny when sometimes it seems hopeless.

After the film, as I drove up to Luton Airport, I was thinking about the situation in Israel, in light of the film. Given that many of the residents of Bielski's camp ended up as citizens of Israel, it is worth giving the matter some consideration. As I drove along, I pondered the thought that last year, the story of the war between Hamas & Israel was lead news item for many a day. The Israeli justification for the attack was the daily rocket attacks by Hamas on Israeli towns. The thought occurred to me that I hadn't seen a news report about a single Rocket attack since the end of the Israeli attack. Was this due to the story not being newsworthy any more, or have Hamas changed their tactics & decided to use political means rather than violence to further their aims. I did a quick google and it certainly seems the case that Hamas is still firing rockets. It must be said that the reports are few and far between, since the end of the conflict (although how much of this is due to the story not being "hot", I know not). According to the report I've linked to, Israel maintains a policy of Tit for Tat attacks. The question I have is whether this will ever truly deliver the results which the Israeli generals hope.

I firmly believe that every sovereign country has a right to defend itself from attack. Israel is clearly being attacked, therefore it cannot be disputed that it is within it's rights to mount actions necessary to defend it's population. If I were an Israeli, the question I'd be asking is whether the current political and military strategy will work. The precident of history does not really bode well. The leader of bomber command during WWII, Arthur Harris, claimed that the Nazi's could be bombed into submission. My dad flew a Wellington bomber for 40 squadron, part of 205 bomber group as part of this offensive. I've taken a keen interest in the subject, to decide whether the sacrifices he and his comrades made were worth it. As part of the campaign lead by Harris, nearly a million tons of bombs were dropped on Germany. Over 60 towns were decimated, 595,000 civilians were killed. At the end of the war, the RAF set up a group to review the findings and see whether the policy of area bombing of cities, with no military value assisted the Allied war effort. The results were inconclusive. German morale did not crack. Until the final weeks of the war, production held up. The policy of hitting oil targets had a far more profound and devastating effect than wiping out cities such as Dresden. One of the most successful campaigns was mounted by my fathers squadron, in mining the Danube. This prevented barges loaded with oil & other supplies from Rumania reaching Germany. As the Nazi's didn't care about their civilian population, the attacks made little difference to the leadership. Apologists for the campaign claim that huge resources were tied up defending German cities. This is nonsense. If the RAF had purely attacked targets in Germany with military or economic value and concentrated their tactics on these targets, the effects would have been more damaging, the same resources would have been tied up and the war may well have ended sooner. 55,000 air crew were killed. RAF bomber command had the highest attrition rate of any service in the war with a 40% casualty rate. The tours of duty were set such that a crew had a 50/50 chance of surviving their tour. Bomber command was comprised of volounteers.

Which brings us back to the Israeli campaign against Hamas. If the RAF could fail so spectacularly against the Nazi's, with a campaign to undermine German morale, how do they expect their campaign to succeed against Hamas. Hamas have a similar disregard for their people, treating them as human shields and cannon fodder. Like the Nazi's in 1944 they have no prospect of defeating Israel on the battlefield, but this will not prevent them from sacrificing their citizens. This brings us back to Israel. How should they respond to rocket attacks? I've got to say that I really don't know, but they should certainly change their tactics. If they put the energies they've expended on military campaigns into more subtle approaches, could they have been less successful in stopping the attacks?

As to Hamas? Well in the unlikely event that anyone from Hamas would read this blog or listen to reason, I'll ask this question. What have all of the rockets you've launched achieved? How have the Palestinian people benefitted? With my Irish Catholic roots it is quite clear to me that the population of Northern Ireland's lives are far better now than during the troubles. They may not have everything they want, but ordinary people can lead their lives in peace, without fear. If I were a political leader, that would be my very minimum first objective. Unlike Bielski's partisans, the Palestinian people will not be carted off to death camps if their leaders lay down their weapons and engage in political dialog. They will merely achieve a better quality of life.

I used to argue long and hard with my Dad about area bombing. My mum once butted in and told me that what I should realise is that after the Blitz, it cheered the population of London up no end to here that German cities were being destroyed. I suspect that if the Israeli government were honest, this is the primary reason for the tit for tat attacks. It is clear that they have little effect in stopping the attacks.

I wonder how Tuvia Bielski would have approached the issue?

Israel, Hamas, Death & Destruction &Gaza,

Anyone who's followed my blogs will know the one thing I despise most is moral cowardice. Mike Freer's latest leader listens blog brought home to me the fact that the effects of events in Gaza have implications here in Barnet, so I feel I have to let the readers of my blog know my views. I suspect a fair few of you won't like what I have to say.

Firstly I'd just like to pass comment on the stance of many of our local politicians. Barnet has a large and rather infuential Jewish population. One of the largest outside of Israel. As such the local politicians, whether of Jewish extraction or not have to take account of the sensibilities. I suspect that many of our professed Christian councillors spend more time in Synogogues than the average semi-secular Jew does. I've received a few emails over the life of my blog alleging all sorts of rubbish about this pratice, but to me it's just politicians grubbing for votes and not disturbing or overly worrying. I don't believe that too many of them really have a deep rooted commitment to Zionism and if they moved to Romford or somewhere with a different demographic make up would probably find a different group to suck up to.

Which brings us to the situation in Gaza. My father was working in Palestine before the creation of the state of Israel. He was present when the "Zionists" were viewed by the British establishment as terrorists and when Menachim Begin was a member of the Stern Gang. Friends of his were killed in the terror campaign. As he had major business interests in the region at the time, when Israel was created he departed. As Arab countries would not allow people with an Israeli stamp to enter, he didn't return until 1966, when he went on a Pilgrimage with the Metropolitan Police to the Holy Land. On returning he was impressed by the progress. Areas of desert had been transformed and Soceity had been modernised. He contrasted this with what happened in Libya when the British evicted the Italians in 1943 and how that had developed, despite huge oil wealth. A year after his visit, there was a war between the Arabs and Israeli's. This was followed by a further war in 1973. Both of these wars were brought about by the stated Arab intention of destroying the state of Israel, created by a United Nations Mandate. By the time of his 1976 visit, many holy places had bullet and shrapnel marks. As a result of these two wars, the Arab nations realised that they couldn't achieve their aims through conventional war.

It is also worth remembering that one of the notorious Palestinian terror groups, Black September took their name from the Jordanian purge of Palestinians, not from any Israeli atrocity. The sad truth is that whilst many Arab nations pay lip service to the Palestinian cause, they've never welcomed the Palestinians or given them any real support other than in the armed struggle. States like Saudi Arabia have huge wealth, but what have they done to help Palestinians in refugee camps?

After the 1973 war, Israel was seen as too powerful a foe for the Arabs to fight head to head. In truth the Israeli army started to get complacent. This reached a head when they invaded southern Lebanon and fought Hizbollah. Hizbollah is a Shia faction backed by Iran. They were ready and waiting for Israel and Israel suffered it's first major military setback.

With the creation of the Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, various Arab and Iranian groups saw an opportunity to repeat this success. Hamas was built up with Arab and Iranian support and became the predominant power in Gaza. This densely populated strip of land houses an urban and impoverished population. Billions of dollars has been poured into it, but rather than raising the living standards of the residents, it's funded a campaign against Israel. Rockets are fired on a daily basis into Israel, not at military targets, but randomly at civilian areas. The aim is to provoke the Israeli military into a response. As Gaza is so tightly packed, any military action will result in civilian deaths. Israel eventually fell for the ploy and we have the current offensive. Huge numbers of civilians are being killed in Gaza and many capitals around the world are seeing anti Israeli protests. The Israeli line is "what would you do if you were under daily attack".

Which brings me to my point. There are not two parties involved in this - Hamas and Israel. There is a third darker aspect. The backers of Hamas who supply rockets and are sitting back, safe in their distant palaces, letting the poor and the dispossessed fight their battles. Israel cannot defeat Hamas, Hamas cannot defeat Israel. All that can happen is the two parties will make each other's lives hell. Every death spawns a new batch of Martyr's. Every Rocket spawns a new batch of reprisals. Whilst all this goes on, the backers of Hamas sit back and happily watch the death toll rise and use their influence and oil wealth to ferment trouble at the UN.

The unpalatable truth is that Hamas and Israel will have to talk to each other and reach an accomodation. Just as Menachim Begin went from terrorist to statesman, so will the leaders of hamas eventually. The Israeli policy of killing the leaders is counter productive as new, unknown and even more hardline leaders emerge. Someone has to break the cycle. It won't be Hamas, so it has to be Israel. The US has a vital role to play as it can not only influence Israel, but to some degree it can also influence the wealty, fat cat backers of Hamas. I'm a pacifist, I don't agree or believe in war as a solution, in all but the most extreme cases. I don't think war will solve the problems of Gaza or Israel. Israel has to cease it's campaign and the UN has to apply pressure to the backers of Hamas. The thing that saddens me most is that every Martyr has been a futile waste of life. Every rocket has been paid for with money that could have improved Gaza. Every Israeli soldier watching his back in Gaza today, could be building a better world.

Violence is not the answer and violence will not work in Gaza. For anyone